Panel: Why Screenwriting Competitions are Necessary

great well welcome everybody to our roundtable of screen craft competition winners today we will be talking about breaking into the industry and what it takes to write a good screenplay and win competitions and basically launch a career and we've got a nice kind of like cross-section of different genre and competition winners here so let's just go around say who we are and what our competition wins have been so far and then we'll get into more like industry focused stuff so let's start with you Aaron yeah I'm Aaron Steven I was the runner-up in the 2014 action thriller competition with my script the Narrows which told the story of a real thing called operation underworld which was this covert alliance between lucky Luciano's mafia and US Naval Intelligence during World War Two to protect New York Harbor from a Nazi incursion Wow it's a good log line you practice that a little bit nice and we got Kinlan Clark what's what's your story Kevin Clark I am the winner of the bootleg universe Adi Shankar screen craft contest and also won the we screenplay contest with my co-writer will William Rubio for our script forged as a sci-fi action thriller and I also direct and direct music videos commercials great welcome and Roman my name is Rowan wheeler I won screencasts pilot launch in 2015 with my half-hour comedy called sociopath which is about a sociopath who starts to have feelings of empathy and guilts for the first time oh love it Sam Sam Lasky I was the runner-up in the 2016 Nashville live read contest that screen Kraft put on and the winner of the 2016 screen kraft comedy contest both with an action comedy called the fake about a high school girl who gets her first fake ID that happens to have used to belong to fugitive hacker on the run from terrorists Wow I like it well so we've got a nice kind of cross-section of genre and action and TV and comedy so let's just talk about the industry the first question that I just want to present to the group which a lot of our audience members will have asked us in the past and I think we'll you know love to hear your answers to is what have you done like what are these steps that you've taken to kind of pave the way for the professional momentum that you have so far as emerging screenwriters in the industry I think we do to kind of like make your own luck I think I mean I would just say it's definitely a industry or a business that requires a lot of self motivation having to kind of get out ahead of it doing a lot of work that you're not sure exactly where it's gonna go or what it's going to amount to trying a lot of different things and hopefully finding your voice I'm doing that and for me doing a lot of different roles within the filmmaking process has kind of helped me quite a bit in terms of doing directing and writing and editing and kind of you know finding what are the things that I really really enjoy doing there but it definitely takes a lot of initiative you know initializing the the whole process on your own nobody's basically just going to come up to you like you've never done this before so let me just hand this opportunity to you you have to carpet yeah you have to try and build up a certain pedigree hopefully that will allow people to have faith or but you know believe in what you're doing mm-hmm yeah you have to be I would say you have to be super proactive if you can't expect anything to happen unless you're kind of making it happen really and it can be very hard for writers who are often introverted but you really have to be your own publicist and get your voice out there and keep in touch with people and let people know what you're doing and yes it's a lot of work but it can be rewarding mm-hmm yeah I had one a couple contests a few years ago and I had this expectation that they're gonna send my scripts out and I was gonna get representation immediately and that was it I won so she've ditch and then nothing happened and then I won the contest with screen craft and I realized okay I have to be very proactive I have to go out and talk to managers I have to contact people and say I won these contests will you read my script will you meet with me for ten minutes and let me buy you coffee so that I can pitch my script to you yeah yeah how has competition winds been influential in getting your career momentum I think it's huge because it's so hard to get someone in this town to read your script like managers and agents and execs they're bombarded with scripts all the time and if you can say look I'm vetted by these contests these contests think I'm good I finalized in this one I have you know especially if you have a list going that you've done really well in more than one contest then it just shows them that the industry as a whole is getting your voice and liking your voice and they're like okay maybe I'll read the first page see I like it yeah I think the best thing that the sort of more elite contests can do for new writers is the all-important introduction and I think that there is something to be said for entering a contest at the right time and having material beyond just the script that your you've submitted because even though a contest can open that first door for you you still need to take ownership of your own career every step of the way and you are gonna get asked what what's next and I think that a lot of people something I learned from the process of winning this great craft competition and getting that introduction to my first reps was that the the purpose of that question isn't just so much what's your actual next piece of material but they are testing your decision making in my case I wrote a period piece so they wanted to make sure that my next script wasn't a period piece that it was something contemporary and showed a different side of my voice those types of things are something are things that you need to be thinking about in those sort of crucial moments where you want to take advantage of the heat bit of contest when can can do for you so what can writers do in that case like just make sure that they have a little arsenal of screenplays in different genres or I think the more the more bullets in your belt you can have the better and those can be in any various stages of development you know I don't think necessarily you need a dozen spec scripts under your belt and some cases that might not be the best but just have ideas that you are passionate about that you know you can talk about in any given time and that you think you could develop with a manager with an agent or with with a producer because ultimately we're judged on our ideas and and writing one great script that can open a door for you can do just that it can open the door for you and it's still on you to push through the door and and really take advantage of it and have have one sheets and treatments ready that you can hand to somebody when you meet with them and have ideas in the room too a lot of managers and executives and producers they really respond to writers that they recognize as fountains of creativity because that's what they're looking for they're looking for a collaborator at the end of the day someone who they can work with on a project and you don't really know which idea is gonna be the one that kind of pushes through because you could be like oh this is my script this one you know I've spent so much time on this etc etc and then offhandedly say oh yeah you know I was working on this other thing and people will completely respond to that and so you really do just have to be kind of the life of a writer or a creative person just has to constantly beat those two things writing and creating as much material all the time regardless of you know what's around the corner you are constantly just trying to build build build build build cuz you don't know which one of those things is gonna land for you and to piggyback off that sorry set your own deadlines even if they're imaginary even if they're completely arbitrary get used to writing or pick a contest deadline yeah exactly that's so important it's a it's a muscle that you really need to flex and and get ready to to exercise if you have an idea for something that you think is doable a script without a lot of characters see if you can write it in a month see if you can write you know take something from just an idea to a fully finished polished script in six weeks you know it's these are the types of things that when you're just starting out they seem really difficult and sometimes impossible but when you start working with executives when you start working with with professionals there they're kind of you know expected more so in TV than in film I think that as competitions can be super helpful for three things one is the deadlines and you know that you have this contest coming up you want to get in by the earlybird deadline so you save money or whatever to is that you're testing the waters to see if your voice is resonating with people and three is that it can open doors which is huge and then once you have that option and that kind of opening you have to take the initiative and push through it how do you pick a good screenplay competition like there's a lot of them out there they all have you know kind of different backgrounds some of them are dubious scams or not so dubious scams what like well how'd it have you picked the ones that you've entered what do you look for before you decide like yes I'm gonna send up my script to this competition it needs to have a track record you need to look and say okay the previous winner of this contest got signed by an agent or manager they sold their spec they have stuff in development has this launched people's careers in the past because you know like you said there are a lot of fly-by-night film festivals and screenplay competitions that started last week that have never signed anyone have never given anyone exposure and they just want your fifty dollar entry fee yeah and also look and see who the judges are because if the judges are managers and executives the type of people that you'll be wanting to get your material to then it's a great script to get in front of them yeah yeah that's great advice and it depends a little bit and one of the things I love about the screenwriting competition aspect and and also what screen craft does in terms of different genres and that type of thing really does help you because there's a creative person you might have a lot of ideas kind of like what you're talking to how do you funnel them down to like okay I'm going to focus on this one because they've got 50 other ideas that are all like you know banging on the door the whole time all the time in my mind and the different genres the different aspects allows you to really go and focus so like an action thriller and be like I'm gonna really focus and I think it helps you also find your voice your strengths which you know anytime you want to approach anything you should really you know look at what are your strengths what you do well and try and find the thing that you know hopefully responds to that and so different competitions so certain competitions might really respond to historical drama and things like that so maybe sending your comedy type thing or your you know action film or whatever might not necessarily respond but it allows that Avenue to go no I I do well in action like let me move into that so yeah that's the one of the big reasons the screen craft has specialized in competitions by genre and tailoring the prize package and the jury and all the readers to the genre is it creates a really meaningful connection between the screenplay and the reader you're not just submitting it to kind of a random reader but someone who loves their genre of your screenplay and is also very well versed in it is you know a professional working with a track record in that specific genre or TV format and it's it's I think when picking a competition to kind of answer my own question to to summarize like make sure that it's a good fit for your project you know don't be too indiscriminate because there's entry fees and you know you don't want your script to just kind of fall on deaf ears so what are what are the best screenwriting competitions to enter I would say Austin Film Festival final draft screen craft it has multiple in different genres which is great and script pipeline is good I would say trekking board trekking B those are the main ones that I would recommend mmm yeah and script pipeline also has a student screenplay competition that's really valuable for a lot of people who are watching in film school or college right now it's really good nice yeah the obviously the Nichol Austin Film Festival attracting board she said screen craft is the the amazing thing about screen craft is the different genre competitions and and just the fact that somebody like like me who when you write in a particular genre or you've written an action or a thriller script you you might feel like some of the more prestigious competitions like the nickel may not give you as fair shake because they're more into sort of prestige and biopics and things like that the final draft is a good one yeah yeah definitely all the ones mentioned the screen craft really is it's some of the best yeah no I mean we're sitting here it really is the int the bootleg universe contest which you know was kind of a fairly unique contest in terms of what was being asked or specific and and really kind of going out on a limb different you know then a lot of other screenwriting competitions and the important thing I think is just to research the contest like you were saying Sam like make sure you can see that the concept that the contest has it you know actual success stories writers that have gone on to do something I should say New York TV festival is about TV TV winning the weave screenplay contest was great for us - hmm we screenplays get one - yeah also a page international screenwriting competition page Awards certain ones have prizes that that are it's seem a little bit more like superlatives but they're actually the more valuable thing like tracking board for example if you if you place I think is a top 75 they put you on sort of a special section of their annual list oh yeah which is a really big deal because there's a really big circulation there and and it can be sort of a launching pad to other lists and of your lists and things like that and yeah cool can we maybe go around and just talk about your unique experiences winning a screen craft contest and like what what what it did for you if anything so when I was the runner-up in the Nashville I've read film festival in 2016 which I think you guys are doing again with Atlanta Film Festival next year mhm I I was the runner-up so I didn't get a live stage reading on my script but I did go to go to the festival and go to all the panels and the after parties which was an incredible experience because at one panel there were agents and managers who were talking to the audience about how do you get an agent to her manager and one of the managers on the panel said and I quote I get a lot of my clients from contests but I usually sign the runner-up rather than the winner so at the after-party that night I went up to her and I said well if you prefer the runners-up to the winners I've got the script for you can I buy you a cup of coffee in LA next week and she gave me 10 minutes of her time I pitched my script and she signed me a couple months later that's a great story I did well I didn't realize that's how it went down yeah I won pilot launch in 2015 and it was a great experience a part of it and I'm still using it it's just to tell people that have won a screenwriting contest people know how many people enter these things and so it does set you apart from all the other people that are trying to break in I think if you can say that somebody thought my script was better than hundreds of others which is amazing and then specifically from the win you guys were kind enough to set me up with some manager meetings which was great who are people that I'm still in touch with and will always be in touch with I think and I was able to parlay into getting my script read by some producers and some other managers I sent a couple of queries which I'd never done before I just said hey I just won this contest would you be willing to read him because like one they were really willing to read which was great so it was just a great opening of doors really for me nice winning screenplay screen craft the bootleg universe contest it was definitely a unique experience as well in terms of being able to produce the short script that I wrote so I've been spending some time working on that and I've been able to because of my background also directed and edit it and shoot it and do all the things involved with it and then as a result of that and also winning the way screenplay contest I was able to get signed by manager and we didn't work out yeah and moving just getting everything done ready so yeah yeah yeah so the the night before the winners were announced for the 2014 action throw the contest I got an email from John and introducing me to an executive at Paramount who was one of the judges and really loved my script and we met a couple times and he still sort of a mentor for me and then when the results came out and I was a runner-up one of the prizes was to speak to a literary manager and I spoke to the manager and then the holidays happened because the contest results are sort of at the end of the year so things kind of went quiet and then the the executive who was actually very good friends with the manager gave him a call on my behalf and a couple months later I was signed so it was uh it literally introduced me to my future manager and the executive who knew him to make it happen it was really wild yeah cool what's a some advice that you have for emerging writers to sort of what are - how do you want to contest well I don't think I can you stack the deck to make it out yeah I don't I don't think there's a formula for you know a contest winning script you don't have to win right you were a runner-up we're a runner-up sometimes it's not about just getting that top slot it's about placing and being a finalist or a runner-up or even a semi-finalists to give you the validation for the industry to pay attention to your screenplay yeah I think the big thing is is is entering with a script that has so had a little bit time to mature and not something that is raw in the sense that you've just finished it you know a minute before the deadline with my script I was I've been working on it for about a year year and a half and I had gotten notes from everybody I knew in the industry and and really sort of felt like it was in its polished best form when I entered it and I think that the there's sort of a some people have a philosophy to kind of scattershot and just submit as many scripts to as many contests as I can because it's like playing the lottery in a certain sense but I would I would recommend putting your best foot forward yeah never ever show anyone a rough draft of a script to a contest to people you want notes from always when you finish a rough draft let it sit for a couple weeks go back read through it yourself you will see things that you need to change and then send it to every single person that you know who gives was willing to give notes until they're annoyed at you I have been working on my script for about I'd written it in about three months and then I took like two months off so I working on the script went back sir all these stakes like did another hole draw really really punched it up and then submitted it and that's the one one mm-hmm yeah I think it's I wish that there was just like a secret you could just say that like this is how you win a contest you enter because I think that no matter when you win I would think this is the same for all of us getting the email that says that you've won or your place is exciting and a little bit surprising maybe all the time like you're just like wow this is really exciting experience for me the scripts that I have feel feel have moved forward and done well in the contests are ones that I feel very very passionate about like I'm super excited like I want to see this movie made I would stand in the rain watch this film you know and so you just have a better chance like manure scripts you know you put a lot of work into multiple scripts and ideas there's probably some that maybe resonate just a little bit more well in your case didn't you enter like multiple scripts into the competition yeah placed with a couple of them I sent my entered for yeah into the the bootleg Universal I honestly could have written I was like I could have done a dozen I was just like but I think just a testament to the fact that it's a little bit of you know like being a prolific writer really helps having like I did to you and one was yeah mm-hmm wow so you placed it - yeah so yeah having like arrows in your quiver you know it really helps yeah acknowledging that 90% of every word that you're going to write is going to be terrible is really important 90% of the scripts that you write aren't going to go anywhere 90% of the hundred pages of a script that you write you're gonna end up revising or cutting or something like that let it suck yeah exactly let it suck don't be afraid to go back and throw everything away and start over again because that's the only way that any writer has ever come up with anything good and this is really the only time in your career where you're going to be able to do that and it's such a valuable time to mix around sort of in the cauldron and find your voice with really no no deadlines or know sort of proverbial gun to your head writing specula can be you know it's a little bit can be a very long process of trying to break at trying to find that script but it's such a valuable time in in a new screenwriter sort of development and and like you said it's the the rough the first draft is really just it's not even to use like the sculpting analogy it's nothing it's just the clay it's just the square you know box of clay and and if you're trying to self edit as you go as you're sort of writing that first draft you'll just go in circles you'll never you'll never really really get there and and and and as you write more you'll learn that that the real work comes with revisions and that's when that's when you sort of can find out if this is something you want to do professionally as a career and start treating it that way well I hear that advice time and again like we just got back from our screenwriting retreat in Jamaica and Steven D'Souza the writer of die hard and a bunch of other kind of iconic action movies said that his process is he writes a first draft he puts it in a drawer and doesn't look at it for two weeks and he goes back to it and he sees tons of things that he didn't see when he was kind of in the weeds of the you know first draft and he does that a few different times you know then he'll do a revision and he'll put it away again yeah working on another project in terms of writing process how do you guys approach the craft do you work on one project at a time or do you have multiple going I like to have projects in different stages of development so that you're working on it's ideally you're just writing one at a time but at the moment for instance I'm writing two and I do think you should if you're writing one if you're in the draft phase of one still be percolating on what's your next idea because as soon as that draft is up and you're in your two-week period wait you want to be starting your next project I'm working on something else because um being prolific is one of the best things I think you can do for your career for sure I have five or six scripts that I'm working on at various stages at one time just so that I can do a draft of one script like I said put it away for two weeks and then go work on those other four scripts in succession and then a month later I come back to this script and I'm ready to work on it again because if I was just working on one or two scripts i I just physically couldn't sit there and stare at the same over and over again all day every day for weeks at a time yeah I think I usually have same thing multiple plates spinning and you know ones in an outline and treatment and this one I've broken down and this one the oh I've got forty page is done and etc etc and at a certain point one or two will start to pull ahead of the group a little bit and you're like okay let me you know this is I can see the you know the end is you know near on these I can push through and get those done but I've I've always probably been working on the two scripts at the same time just so that you can take a mental break from one you switch over and for some reason your subconscious is also working on that one so when you go back it's that fresh eyes situation let's talk about notes part of being a professional screenwriter is getting pages of development notes from producers and development executives what what's your sort of note-taking process and where do you go to get it the first thing I always do when I get notes from a producer from my reps is I'll take a day or two to digest them and then I will iron them out into a to-do list and I'll try to break that out depending on how expansive the notes are by Act and and I'll sort of create a to-do list that in some cases seems a little bit redundant with the actual notes but it allows me to kind of get my head right and helps with the work just because I'm the type of person that likes to sort of go back to a checklist and highlight it and I feel very accomplished and I feel like I'm making progress even though I know some of the notes are you know very macro and will sort of take a lot of time how do you deal with notes that you don't agree with well the key is and this is an old sort of trope but is fine the note that's under the note that's behind the note and and the best the best and most talented executives are really really great at pointing out the problem very very very very few of them can actually tell you how to fix it and if somebody gives you a note that you know issues of taste aside you feel like just isn't right for the story the key is just sort of finding where this is coming from and what the underlying issue might be that spawned this sort of notre spawn this idea and if you come back to them with a different approach to the note or a different answer for it and it works then they'll they won't they won't come back to you and say why did you do it this way it's all it's all problem solving and I think that that to me is is one of the most most fun parts of the entire process is that I can sit there with a draft and bang my head against a wall and think there's no possible way this note will work there's too many ripple effects and then two weeks goes by and the script is a million times better I think it's it's really cool I like feedback I've gotten to the point where I'm like just get it give it to me like give it to me what's you know what's working what's not working because this is the phase of the filmmaking process to try and and and fix things because you know as you go down through the production well that's an interesting perspective to from a director yeah having directed lots of content how do you like sort of think about the writing process of having the perspective of the person that creates it in me yeah it's it's it's a very different situation in terms of getting feedback as a writer and getting feedback as an editor or director because when somebody says this you should do this and this and this you're like that's gonna cause that's time that's money that's a lot of you know and it's not to say that it there isn't time and money involved in the writing process but it's much more you know it's you at a you know computer or whatever working on it rather than we've got to go reshoot some scenes we've got to do this so at that phase it's very like you're you're just like you know but we in the writing phase it's like yes yes tell me what's not working to fix it now I'd say one other thing is when you get notes and you're you're getting different feedback is look for the notes that are like across the board with these right because just like you said the issues of taste you know are in there but if there's a problem multiple people are gonna start pointing it out and you have to be willing to go okay these people have all said this there is a problem as much as I want to be like this is the thing that makes this so great it's like it's not working you know and go back very examine it yeah we I mean we all have our blind spots writers have blind so what I do is I work on it until I think it's good with all my blind spots and then I send it to my writers group and they'll be like okay this doesn't work this doesn't work and then I am grateful for that advice because I'm like thank you you're seeing you're seeing the blind spot that I can't see then keep up pointing out we're happy to ready to work on it and then I try and have as many people look at it before I send its my reps or to the producer that I'm working with and how do you deal with a notice that you don't agree with I I do what you do first I try and think about the note behind the note and I really give it a lot of thought if it's something that I just don't think is right I will fight for it because I think that's but I don't think you should do that with everything that should be like the exception for me when I was working with a producer on the pilot that I one where they optioned it to produce there and I was working with them and most of her notes were absolutely amazing and there was one or two that I didn't agree with and I really sat with them for a few days and was like what is it about this doesn't work and I identified what it was that didn't work with my concept all my conceit and I just kind of explained it's her and then if they push back then ya look at it again but she didn't she was like okay yeah their conversation is really important because you know sometimes it is just that they had ten scripts to read that evening and they sped through the script and they missed the thing at the start of the script that makes this scene later on makes sense and you maybe you do just need to get to the bottom of it and figure it out but usually like you said if multiple people are saying the same thing question how did can I ask you just because she's brought it up how did you get your writers group cuz that's like I have a circle of writer friends too that I send scripts to that is so important how did you find those people um I took a bunch of writing classes in LA this place called scripts Anatomy that I took classes out and through that place there was a bunch of writers all looking for a writers group and we all got paired up it was very lucky because we're all super close to how we meet every other week we read two drafts every other week everybody's doing really well it's super lucky and important and having that filter before you go to your reps it's hung it goes to your reps you want to tell them it's the first driver I shouldn't really be so having those people to kind of be your eyes on it um it's a super important what about contest feedback I think it's important to enter a contest that give back I've I I think that it can be valuable in particularly if you're paying the extra fee for the feedback so that there's an incentive for the judges to like really go in depth in your script but you know there are some contests that just give a paragraph of feedback from again a reader who's gone through twenty scripts that afternoon and I usually don't find that particularly valuable but if it's if it's something that you've paid extra for that has a track record of giving good feedback that's worth it I was gonna sort of say the same thing that they're all not created equal is that is that you there there are times that I've gotten feedback from a platform or from a screen writing competition that I feel like the person really didn't really didn't you know they sort of wrote off the script early on or they missed really obvious sort of key things and and I sort of took their what they said with a grain of salt but there's been other times that I've gotten really really concise really really smart feedback mostly it's from the competitions that you have to pay for the blacklist database was a really really great tool it was sort of brand-new when I was writing my script that that did well in screen craft and that was something where you did you know you uploaded it and you didn't even have to make it live you would just pay the twenty five bucks or whatever and wait a couple weeks and you would get really really really great notes from somebody in the industry so find little avenues like that where you can just find find good notes and they'll they'll point out things that you know you haven't seen I once just a little kind of a funny aside I once got feedback from a contest and the script was about a character who as a young man who lives in a trailer park and the feedback was this script doesn't really make sense because why didn't he just go to college I was like okay so not all contests or judges are created equal some time and it really made me feel kind of good because I was like okay sometimes I get rejected by contests it can just be the judges don't bad really that's another reason why it's important to pick a good contest with a track record yeah for me I mean and this may be different because I definitely believe in rewriting rewriting and just re-examining and looking at it from multiple angles if I get feedback that is like it's basically suggesting almost a totally different movie it's sometimes I get a little on the fence with that because I believe that for me personally I like to trust the initial thing that got me excited about this what's the initial concept and if the concept is like they're basically suggesting this is like I told I'm like well I could just write that script and give it a different title and it's a different movie I you know it you really respond to stuff where it feels like the person saw the movie that you were trying to make in a sense and is in is like almost there with you going what about this this this and this as opposed to like now this like you know here's that you know that's the type of thing that for me it really resonates that's a really good point so looking back on you know the beginnings of your you know exciting and emerging careers as professional screenwriters what would you look back on the last few years is like the milestones or like the specific kind of achievements that you've that you that you see is really significant along the way for me winning contests was the first thing because it meant that I wasn't wasting my time which I didn't know before that and then signing with my reps for sure and then optioning as pilot and now going out and pitching so yeah those and then if I get staff that'll be another one if I run my own show that'll be the other one yeah yeah the story I told before about getting my reps was the big moment in my career that I can look back on and say okay this changed the course and yeah did like you said that recognition and validation that I haven't spent the last ten years of my life writing screenplays for nothing was really important I think validation is is the best thing that we can hang our hat on in at this stage in our careers because you know as new writers you're not most of us aren't in the Union and there's a lot of work for free going on whether you're your script is at a studio based production company or you're just doing it by yourself but yeah winning screen are placing runner-up from screen craft signing with my manager and then recently having a director attached to one of my scripts is really cool but every step of the way at this point validation is the best thing and just hoping that that at this stage not everything can fall apart yeah I mean there's just it's a it's a tough business though like we said kind of going back it requires a lot of self starting to move forward and a lot of kind of working your way a little bit through the dark on some levels to try and see what's gonna work so when you get when you were able to win contest so you know for me winning the bootleg universe and and winning a the we screenplay with my co-writer those were great moments is just like those little posts along the way that are like yes like this is something you makes you really want to it motivates and they're kind of like re-energizes the whole process and makes you want to continually dive in but it takes a lot of there's a lot of scripts there's a lot of things there's a lot of things that aren't working this is a whole you know a speculation yeah a lot of rejection you know that leads to it and it's just a matter of taking the rejection examining what didn't work trying again and eventually you know you well for the thousands of aspiring screenwriters and emerging filmmakers out there who would love to be you know sitting at this table next year what advice do you have for the emerging writers out there who are focusing on their craft and hoping to you know make strides don't go out with anything that isn't 100 percent polished ready proofread it five times before you submit it because you know I've worked as a script reader typos will get you rejected really quickly if they start to pile up and you know take your time know that it can take six months a year a year and a half to actually get a script that's ready to win a contest yeah and being ready is really important because when you do when the door does open like we were saying earlier you the first question is what else do you have so it's what else do you have do you have a Bible so just really working and getting as much extraneous content around your pilot's or your features that you can to really back it up and support it when you get those doors opened it's super important and then just being prolific and not moving on when you've just done a first draft really like you said honing and making it as good as it can possibly be take time away go back work on it again really get it till everybody who reads it is saying this is great and then you're ready the the prolific aspect is really the best advice it's it's just trading as much material my manager is great he you know just reminds me constantly like now is a great time for you to just really really be developing as many ideas and concepts and writing as much as possible and that is really that's the thing that you can rely on the most and in a certain level is yourself and your ability to just sit down and do the work and as well definitely just try and make it the best script that it can possibly be and really be putting you only have a one chance to make a first good impression as they say and that's pretty much the truth and a lot of ways when it comes to the writing process yeah I'd say sort of a couple things the first is you know you're gonna find your voice through writing I think everybody sort of thinks that you know they get told to find their voice and they think that that might mean just watch a bunch of Quentin Tarantino movies and then just sit and think and how what's my take on that but it it comes just from practice write as much as you possibly can and and you're gonna very slowly but surely find what you're most passionate about and that'll come out in in your in your scripts and then the other thing is is there's an old adage of when you want a job start acting like you already have it or something like that and I think that that for writers we've talked a lot about sort of being a self-starter and and and you know give yourself a schedule have it be as regimented as you're comfortable with it doesn't need to be you know 9:00 to 5:00 but really start treating it like a job and you'll start to actually feel is this something that I want to do to pay my rent to support my family at a certain point is this um that I can do really religiously or is a hobby that I can do you know at late at night with a bottle of wine next to me not there's anything wrong with that but but start treating it like a job if as early as possible and the transition will be a lot smoother I would say one more thing which is just study like I read every book and I've watched all the shows I think are great and broken them down and simply might be how are they working what they doing study the things that you love and if you have an idea and it's a particular genre go after scripts of that genre not in any type of a sort of copy this copy that sense but just you want to see how other people tackle the material and that even comes down to sometimes a scene I was writing something recently where I had a scene where characters fell down this big hill and got really hurt so I found the script for a lone survivor just because I wanted to see how that sequence was written on the page what the cadence was like what language was used that type of thing is all important for for writers is read and fill the tanks as much as you can get get a job as a reader they pay people to read scripts because there are so many of them yeah how do you guys read a lot of screenplays yeah it's there's the there's a popular saying I can't remember where it's from but the difference between an amateur and professional is is an amateur writes more than they read and so you want to try and you want to be trying to take in as much material and then and also experiencing life writing resources online right yes interviews like this on YouTube yeah subscribe below there's also you know like books on writing and you can download award-winning screenplays online and podcasts yeah there's an easy to study for she now is a great time to be an emerging screenwriter totally at awards season they put all of them right Oscar potential Oscar nominees screenplays time so down yes and they're all pretty good scripts yeah well great thank you guys for joining us for this little roundtable and thank you guys for watching we'll we'll be back soon so subscribe below actually and will let you know when we have more fun interviews coming up thanks for coming up thank you

Channel: ScreenCraft

Views: 7,706

Keywords: screenwriting, filmmaking, john rhodes, rowan wheeler, screencraft, screencraft contest winners, screenwriting contest, screenwriting contest winners, winners, screencraft contest, panel, roundtable, screenwriting competitions, screencraft competitions, all in, go all in, passion, writing, aaron steven, action, thriller, kenlon clark, bootleg universe, adi shankar, pilot launch, tv script, script, screenplay, sam laskey, comedy

Id: jZp4sS7mRlU

Length: 41min 44sec (2504 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 20 2018